Common beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) play an important role in the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Tanzania, as a food security crop and source of income. It is the leading leguminous crop, accounting for 78% of land under legumes. The Per Capita bean consumption is 19.3kg, contributing 16.9% protein and 7.3% calorie in human nutrition and 71% of leguminous protein in diets; while 75% of the total area under legume cultivation is common beans (Messina, 2016; FAO, 2013).
It is estimated that over 75% of rural households in Tanzania depend on beans for their daily subsistence (Kalyebara and Buruchara, 2008). The crop residues are used as livestock feed and source of organic matter to enhance soil fertility. In addition to local consumption, Tanzania exports beans to more than 10 countries mainly to neighboring countries. Moreover, Tanzania is number one producer of Common beans in Africa and 5th globally with annual production of 1,341,000MT under the area of 899,980ha (FAOSTAT, 2021). Furthermore, the collaboration between TARI and other partners, resulted in increasing the productivity of common beans by about 42% in 2010 when the average productivity was 0.77t/ha to 1.40t/ha in 2021 (FAOSTAT, 2021; CIAT, 2020).
Nevertheless, farmers still grow local cultivars of bean varieties which have low productivity. In increasing access, availability and affordability of improved bean varieties, the bean research program under the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI) has released high productive, multiple tolerant and nutrient dense common bean varieties. This catalogue gives a description of 41 released bean varieties among them six (6) are climbing types and 35 bush types. For each variety, the catalogue provides identification, morphological and agronomic characteristics, and recommended agroecological production areas.
Sisal is a fibre crop that grows in the tropics. The main countries of production are Brazil, Tanzania and Tanzania.
The same plants are grown for many years and the leaves are typically harvested (cut by hand) when they reach around 1m long. The green outer of the leaf is removed by a process known as decortication (and is used as animal feed) leaving metre long strands of super-strong natural sisal fibre.
The sisal plants are grown organically and absorb large quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere all year round. They also have a very low water requirement and survive droughts that kill other crops. For this reason farmers are being encouraged to grow them as a way to cope with climate change. The fact that the sisal leaves can be harvested at any time of year is also good for the farmers’ cash flow.
TIKRI FIBRE EXPORTERS supplies fresh and healthy Tanzania Cavendish bananas to the rest of the world as well as the local market, sourced from smallholder farmers in Tanzania. The Cavendish banana exported by Selina Wamucii is the most popular banana variety that is consumed worldwide. In fact the greatest percentage of bananas that fill the shelves of Western supermarkets are ultimately the Cavendish type. The greatest advantage of the Cavendish banana, just like many varieties of bananas, lies in the fact that they are highly affordable and non-seasonal hence available all year round. The Tanzania Cavendish banana is mainly grown in Tanzania’s highlands especially in Central and Nyanza regions.
The taste of our Tanzania Cavendish banana is great. The fruit can be used for normal consumption as a fruit, fruit salads, baking, fruit compotes as well as complementing routine food.
TIKRI FIBRE EXPORTERS ships Tanzania bananas to to clients spread around the world. Our Tanzania Cavendish banana is of the highest quality, green, clean and fresh-ready for consumption when ripe.
TIKRI FIBRE EXPORTERS Limited provides high quality Tanzania tea to the local and export market. We source the raw fresh Tanzania tea from family growers in Tanzania. Tanzania is the number one producer of tea in Africa. It ranks as the fourth biggest producing nation after Ceylon (Sri Lanka), India and China. There are two kinds of farming areas: large-scale and smallholder. The latter constitutes over 600,000 family growers with over 1 acre of land and it is the mainstay of the sector. The Tanzania Tea Development Authority (KTDA) oversees about 60 to 62 percent of the sector, nearly all constituting smallholder farmers.
We source tea from diverse parts of the country, mainly Central and Rift Valley regions. Our Central suppliers farm their crop in Murang’a, Nyeri, Thika, Kirinyaga and Kiambu. Our Eastern province family growers come from the windward side of Mount Tanzania especially Meru and Embu. In Western Tanzania, we source from Nyamira and Nyambene. Some of our biggest sources include Kericho and Bomet in the heart of the Rift Valley. We only source from family sources who prune their fields each 36 months as this rejuvenates new growth with added flavor.
We harvest Tanzania tea through specially trained farmhands who have made tea-picking an art. They examine each bright green leaf, at the apex of each plant, which they pick in threes. This leaves the other parts to renew tea buds in the next harvest, usually 10 days later.
We provide high quality Tanzania coffee to the local and export market. We source the raw fresh Tanzania coffee from family growers from Tanzania. Tanzania has two varieties of coffee that have worldwide popularity. These include Arabica, as a perfect blending choice, and Robusta. Tanzania is Africa’s leading producer of the Arabica species. These two district aromatic kinds grow in Western and Central highlands at elevations of 1400-2000m. They abound in the same areas as tea only that they grow taller even at lower altitudes than tea.
We source coffee in the main growing areas in Tanzania. For both Arabica and Robusta, we have contracts with farmers in the Central parts of the country in Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Thika, Murang’a and Kiambu. On the cool windward side of Mount Tanzania and even warmer regions in Eastern province, we obtain coffee from Meru, Embu and Machakos. Our family growers from the Coastal region come from Wundanyi. We also get supplies from Bungoma, Kisii, Nyamira and Nyabondo areas in Western Tanzania.
We export two forms of Tanzania coffee including parchment coffee that is just ground into beans but not roasted. We loose park it in gunny bags or jute bags with proper aeration. Our bag sizes for the processed produce can contain up to 60 kilos of the parchment beans per package. We also sell roasted coffee with different particle sizes depending on the level of grinding. We offer this fine ground drinking product in sachets of different sizes in diverse aromas and fineness.
It is one of the most important protein rich pulse crop. It is mostly eaten as Dal by splitting into 2 cotyledons, deep orange red or orange yellow in color. Whole grain is also used in various dishes. Lentil also provide a source of starch for textiles and printing. It is mixed with wheat flour in bread and cake production. India is the highest producer of lentil in the world.
In case of light soils, less tillage or soil manipulation is required to prepare seed-bed. One deep ploughing followed by 3-4 cross harrowing’s should be given in case of heavy soils. 2-3 ploughings are sufficient for proper pulverization of land. Levelling of field should also be done for proper distribution of water. Proper moisture should be present in the field at the time of sowing seeds.
Harvesting should be done at proper time when plant dry up and pods mature. Over-ripening of pods should be avoided as produce may be lost due to shattering. Plants should be beaten by sticks to thresh. After threshing, seed is cleaned and dried up in the sunshine. Moisture content should be 12% at the time of storage.
Rice production involves various steps including; seedling production, sowing, seedbed preparation, main land preparation, transplanting, main field water management, weeding, pest and disease control, husbandly and harvesting ,threshing, winnowing, drying, storage. About 95% rice production in Tanzania is grown under irrigation in paddy schemes managed by the National Irrigation Board (NIB).
In East Africa, rice is fast becoming an important food and cash crop with a per capita consumption range of 11 to 16 kg per person per year (USDA, 2010). In Tanzania, the crop introduced in 1907, is grown in all rice production ecologies.
National rice consumption is estimated at 300,000 metric tons compared to an annual production range of 45,000 to 80,000 metric tons.
The deficit is met through imports whose value was KES 7 billion in 2008. The current
rice production is estimated at 80,000 metric tons on about 20,000 hectares of land. This production meets only 16% of total demand which is expected to rise with increasing youth population and change in eating habits. Rice
consumption is increasing at a rate of 12% annually as compared to 4% for wheat and 1% for maize.
Soybeans are bushy, free-branching, warm-weather annuals. There are more than 10,000 soybean cultivars. Seeds can be smaller than a pea or as large as a kidney bean.
Soybeans grow 12 to 36 inches (30-91cm) tall. Stems and leaves are hairy. The flowers are white with lavender shading. Pods grow 1 to 4 inches (2.5-10cm) long in clusters of three to five. Each fuzzy pod contains 2 to 4 seeds. Seeds range from black to gray, brown, green, yellow, white, and striped.
There are more than 10,000 soybean cultivars. Green-seed cultivars are considered the most tender and best flavored. Black-seeded beans are used for drying. Yellow-seed beans are used to make soy milk and flour. Select a cultivar suited to your growing region; check with the nearby agricultural extension for recommendations.
